After Boeing crashes, jet design rules to get tougher for all

Planemakers worldwide face tougher scrutiny and changes in the way aircraft are certified in the aftermath of two fatal crashes of Boeing 737 MAX jets, leading regulators have said. Tuesday marks one year since the deadly crash of a Lion Air jet, which Indonesian investigators linked in part to violent seesaw movements triggered by flawed anti-stall software. The MCAS software, activated by a single faulty sensor and omitted from training manuals, has led to calls for tighter regulation as well as improvements in the training of pilots. “The certification process will change; I think so,” the head of the US FAA, Steve Dickson, said late Monday at an airlines meeting in Brazil. Boeing 737 MAX aircraft have been grounded around the world since March following a second fatal crash, this time involving a plane operated by Ethiopian Airlines. Dickson also emphasised a need to raise standards for airplane pilot training globally. A recent report by international regulators, commissioned by the FAA, faulted processes at both the US regulator and Boeing. But the impact of the crisis is likely to be felt worldwide, including at Boeing’s rival Airbus and new entrants from Russia to China and Japan, as regulators step up efforts to ensure that risks are correctly identified right from the drawing board. “We are going to make it harder,” Patrick Ky, executive director of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), said when asked about the future of certification in general, without naming countries or companies. “In the future we may ask to have a larger set of data which will be used in the certification case than today,” he added. <br/>